"inside washington," mitt romney's rough ride. the fight for ohio. >> you may have noticed that there is an election going on. >> we are going to win ohio. >> the foreign policy debate. >> i was certain and continue to be certain that there are going to be bumps in the road. >> "bumps in the road"? we had an ambassador assassinated. >> rare bipartisan agreement. >> did you guys watched the packers game last night? give me a break. it is time to get the real refs. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> it has been a rough couple of weeks for mitt romney. the president has opened up leads in battleground states like ohio, wisconsin, florida, colorado. you would have thought that the assassination of an american ambassador in libya, attacks on embassies elsewhere in the middle east, would have offered mitt romney hagel the opportunity to reframe the debate, but he cannot seem to get there. politico began a piece on friday by telling us with the problem is not -- not clint eastwood and the empty chair, or delete 47% video or media bias. politico says it is mitt.

doors in practice sparring sessions. romney has listed senator rob portman to prep him while obama is working with senator john kerry. latest polls covered with that 47% remark hurting romney. in the battleground state of pennsylvania today. >> -- make sure america leads in our homes, in our economy and in our military. i need something from you. that's my commitment to you. i need you to go out and find somebody who voted for barack obama and get him to vote for me. >> he's down but not out. can he turn it around with an october surprise? let's welcome stephanie cutter. it's going reasonably well for you guys. it's been a good couple weeks, really since the conventions. you've got a bit of momentum but i guess you're not taking this too complacently. >> no, absolutely not, piers. you know, debates can be a pivotal moment in campaigns. i remember eight years ago when john kerry was getting ready to debate george bush, we were eight points down. coming out of that first debate we were tied with george bush. so there is an opportunity for mitt romney if he takes advantage of it next wed

romney. president piled on, turning his own gaffes into laugh lines. >> i want to see us export more jobs. export more products. excuse me. ( laughter ) i was-- i-- i was channeling my opponent there for a second. ( laughter ) >> schieffer: and advice and constellations. >> there are 40 days left until the election. obama cowl make a gaffe. mitt would win the debates, go could send a flood to destroy all mankind. ( laughter ) so there's hope. >> schieffer: short of building an ark, what is romney's best chance. we'll ask new jersey governor chris christie, and one-time adversary, newt gingrich. so far romney is sticking to a familiar theme, but does he need to do more? >> i will lower the tax rate. he wants to creat to raise them. i'll create jobs and he'll kill them. also marsha blackburn, bob shrum, and larry sabato from the university of virginia center for politics. as we head into first presidential debate, we'll talk about the state of america at home and abroad with the distinguished panel. michelle rhee, former head of the washington, d.c. school system and founder of student

for mitt romney and other republicans, but don't they are fired and the focus of a state investigation. >> there were a lot of signatures that appeared to possibly be common and there was a lot of missing information, and it just didn't appear to be real consistent. >> something was just wrong. >> yeah. >> cenk: so then it turned out, it's not just in palm beach county, it is in at least ten counties in florida. >> the workers there go through that and fine repeated problems in about 108 of them, including similar signatures, apparently phony signatures, and phony addresses as we just heard some linked up to a shell gas station, as of last night, we had six counties reporting irregularities in voter registration firms including -- according to a republican supervisor registering of dead people. >> cenk: dead people. dead people. and it turns out of course it is not just florida, it is in seven different swing states colorado, florida, nevada north carolina, virginia. they are doing it in all of these states and the republican national committee paid this company $3.1 mill

earth. >> the great debate five days away. why romney has to win and why obama can't afford to lose. i'll talk to my political a-team. also, bibi and the bomb. >> a red line should be drawn right here. >> after dropping this on the u.n. yesterday, he talks to obama and romney today. what israel's line in the sand would mean for all of us. plus, have you seen chelsea lately? >> nobody knows what the hell they're getting into when they're running for president. >> one of my favorites guests is back. >> i'm single, yes. >> if men are watching this -- >> yeah, i'm available. you know, just call me maybe. >> funny, feisty as ever, with a new look for her talk show. this is "piers morgan tonight." >>> good evening. the big story, the great debate. in just five days the event that could change the race for the white house permanently. the clock is ticking and the candidates know it. they meet face-to-face on wednesday. this weekend, both will be locked behind closed doors in practice sparring sessions. romney has listed senator rob portman to prep him while obama is working with senator jo

and romney are getting as far away from each other as they can as they prepare to meet face-to-face. we'll explain. >>> whitney went from being joke to high school hero. >> when she found out she was a joke she turned her disappointment into inspiration. here's chris welch with her story. all right, we're having a tape issue. we'll have that a quick break. >> you're going to want to watch. [ man ] when i'm in my zone... every move i make is a statement... ♪ ...that inspires me to make my mark. ♪ [ male announcer ] the all-new lexus es 350. ♪ the economy needs manufacturing. machines, tools, people making stuff. companies have to invest in making things. infrastructure, construction, production. we need it now more than ever. chevron's putting more than $8 billion dollars back in the u.s. economy this year. in pipes, cement, steel, jobs, energy. we need to get the wheels turning. i'm p. making real things... for real. ...that make a real difference. ♪ with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain.

recently -- the first debate is wednesday night in denver. mitt romney in the mile high city tonight for a predebate rally. surrogate chris christie set expectations mile high claiming wednesday night is yet another restart of the romney campaign. >> governor romney's going to lay out his vision for a better and greater america for greater opportunity for all of our citizens and i think that's when you're going it see this race really start to tighten and then move in governor romney's direction. come thursday morning the narrative of this race is going to change. >> romney has been preparing with senator rob portman who filled in as obama during john mccain's 2008 prep. the president practicing with jor kerry playing the role of romney. kerry is a good fit since the parallels between his '04 and current one is overwhelming. can romney get the post-debate bounce kerry did in '04 and take it one step further and turn it into something kerry couldn't do eight years ago. in '04 president bush had a six-point lead before the debates but kerry's performance boosted him tying the men for the fin

preparation for the presidential debate, president obama and mitt romney are going to see the first one right here on wednesday. that debate is coming. and you're going to see where they are in the process of preparing in just a moment. the debates and the election, of course, are serious. and that would be our first story. serious. until we discovered this video, stunning video shot from the helmet of a u.s. soldier, it seems like a video game. but this is not xbox which you're about to see. it is real. the pentagon is telling us it happened, it happened in afghanistan in april. afghanistan is a place we have not heard these candidates talk about much, have we? nothing from romney during the republican convention, very little from obama, especially at the u.n. this last week. the debates will likely be a different story because this weekend the death toll for americans in the war surpassed the 2000 mark. the soldier who made the helmet cam video suffered only minor wounds and has returned to duty. but it's amazing that he suffered only minor wounds when you see this incredible stor

is outside the margin of error. for governor romney, time that cruel, cruel mistress is slipping away. early voting begins in ohio next tuesday. can he win without the state? if history is any judge no republican in history has won without ohio. according to the latest nbc news battleground map the president is expected to get 243 electoral votes to romney's 191. with eight tossup states. obama win in ohio with its 18 electoral votes would put him at 261 electoral votes, that is just nine away from winning re-election. surprising exactly no one ohio has been a top focus for candidates. while governor romney logged 17 trips to the state this election cycle president obama is making his 13th visit this year alone. earlier this month the democratic ticket made clear just how much ohio means to them. >> if we win ohio, we win the election. >> if we win toledo, we will win ohio. and if we win ohio we'll win this election. >> john heilemann, there has been no shortage of love for the state of ohio this election cycle. president obama and mitt romney both speaking at 1:05 today. i wonde

different judgment. >> reporter: mitt romney and president obama are no strangers to debates. combined participated in dozens of debates over the past two election cycles. a lot is at stake this wednesday in denver. >> i would put medicare and social security in a lock box. >> reporter: in 2000, algore held an 8 point lead over george bush before the first debate. right after his lead vanished, the two were tied at 43. this year, each side is making efforts to lower expectations. this memo obtained, is written by romney advisor, beth meyers, she talks glowingly about the president's debate record, siting where americans declared him the winner over john mccain each time. you make your opponent out to be unbeatable, regardless of what is said, you can declare a victory of sorts. >> how are the candidates getting ready for the weekend? >> reporter: there is going to be a lot of studying going this weekend, mitt romney is going back to boston, actually you might remember he has been getting ready with rob portman, playing the role of president obama and portman took on the task

. even before he and mitt romney were on stage. joining me now is the democratic strategist, editor for the national review. i can't think of two people better to talk about this issue. i going to start with you. the first debate is already over. his style, president obama, in his gop challenger needs to shine in the debate. what do you say? >> well, so much for the expectations game. the media doesn't pick winners, voters pick winners. that is why we have elections. they are smart enough to understand opinions and facts and all of that. they are really good at filtering it out. after all the early voting that is done, 9:00 o'clock on the west coast, it is the voters that have the last say and that is the way it should be. gerri: okay, rich, the public says that 61% of those polled by fox news says that the media wants obama to win. >> yes, i think it is right. in 2008, it was more of the country in love with president obama. this time they are lukewarm with obama but they hate mitt romney. this is one of the few opportunities that mitt romney has two really comes through without th

had just happened hours before in cairo. >> reporter: mitt romney says it raises questions to how the first statements could be so wrong. >> there was a great deal of confusion about that from the very beginning on the part of the administration. and whether that was something they were trying to paper over, or whether it was instead just confusion to give an uncertain intelligence report, time will tell. >> reporter: intelligence officials tonight say they offered their honest assessment at the time, and warned that the information was preliminary. republicans note that even the democrat whose chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, john kerry, wants more answers, co-signing a bipartisan letter asking for more details. but he told nbc's andrea mitchell that it should not be a partisan issue. >> the republicans are working overtime to try to exploit a very normal, run of the course, administrative letter that we agreed to on a bipartisan basis in our committee, simply to get some additional questions put in front of the state department. >> reporter: republicans also q

double digits. can mitt romney win the presidency without the power of these swing states? >> no. and by the way, check out this incredible video. a tornado touches down, ripping through homes and buildings. it is all caught on camera. >> wow. a busy morning ahead. our guests include michele flournoy, co-chair of the obama campaign nation security advisory committee. tiki barber, former player for the new york giants, rudy giuliani, former new york city mayor, ben cohen, co-founder of ben & jerry's ice cream and singer cyndi lauper. >> it is wednesday, september 26th. "starting point" beginning right now. first we have some news just in to cnn. two american soldiers in afghanistan were killed today in an attack by a suicide bomber. the attack happened in logar province just south of kabul, afghanistan's capital. a spokesman for the governor of logar said the suicide bomber detonated himself during a military operation. he also said one american soldier was injured. we will have more on this developing story as details come in. >>> a big day here in new york. iran's controversial leade

mitt romney keeping a low profile today. they are prepping for wednesday's first presidential debate. we have learned that senator john kerry is going to play the role of mitt romney in the president's practice sessions. ohio senator rob portman is portraying the president in mitt romney's debate preps. >>> general motors is recalling more than 40,000 cars. it is concerned about fuel pump modules that could crack and cause a fire. the recall affects the 2007 to 2009 chevrolet cobalt and pontiac g5. gm will replace the fuel part for free. >>> yes, it is over officially. regular nfl refs will be back on the field tomorrow. the refs union formally ratify add new contract today. the nfl agreed to a deal with the union earlier this week which allowed those refs to return on thursday to a standing "o." critics said the performance of the replacement refs hurt the integrity of the game. >>> and winds ripping through the japanese island of okinawa is all from typhoon jelawat. at least 50 people suffered injuries while more than 270,000 homes have no power. the storm is expected to weaken as

for four years. the other has been running for longer than that. barack obama and mitt romney are both nearing the end of intense debate prep, and coaching sessions. and at this point, they're designed either to create or prevent that moment that we've all seen that can somehow change the race. and with millions of americans watching these debates like a kind of super bowl of american politics, the stakes are high as the two men face each other in denver, just two days from now. we begin tonight with nbc's andrea mitchell in our d.c. newsroom. andrea, good evening. >> good evening, brian. it is the political super bowl, or perhaps the world series. mitt romney, behind in all battleground polls for the last three weeks, now has the most to gain from a game-changing night. and the most to lose if he doesn't turn it around. as the candidates head to debate camp, rolling up their sleeves, getting down to work, each claims to be the underdog. >> governor romney, he's -- he's a good debater. i'm just okay. >> he plays, barack obama, he plays them well, too. i hate to tell you. >> report

sharpton. >>> thanks, chris, and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, governor romney is getting by on a zing and a prayer with just 36 days to go, things are getting desperate for team romney. the bad news keeps piling up. the latest swing state polls show him trailing the president by 11 points. 11. fox business is reporting that romney is losing donors to republican house and senate candidates. they are moving their money because they think he's going to lose. so much for the liberal media bias. that was a fox report. even conservatives are arguing that this wednesday's debate is do or die. >> you just heard paul ryan say that romney will offer the country a clear choice of two different economic futures. is that what romney needs to do wednesday? is that enough? >> well, i think it would be good to just win the debate. that's my advice to governor romney and it's time to begin panicking a little bit. >> time to begin panicking? but don't worry, governor romney has a solution. zingers. the "new york times" reports that mr. romney's team has concluded that debates are a

>> in 2012 nothing has been off limits in liberals. iney accused mitt romney of and although many of the lines ofax attack have hadley been ud by the left in the past nd his have taken the politics of division to new levels this election cycle. what we have seen in recent months is the president's willingness to play ggiarize th worst attributes of democratic candidates in the past like john kerry. like al gore barack obama is willing to look into the camera and distort any and all facts to woifrn voters. we are going to demonstrate how the 2012 obama play book is nothing short of the ultimate highlight real of the desperate methods long utilized by democrats in the past from class warfare to the race card we are going to cover it all. we are going to begin with the less most offensive scare tactics aimed at frightening you to support president obama. >>> you don't have any fresh ideas you use scare tactics to get voters. if you don't have a platform you paint one to run from. >> in his own words reads like a prophetic description of his 2012 el leksz campaign. >> if you reject th

2012 nothing has been off limits in liberals. they accused mitt romney of being a felon a tax cheat even a murderer. president obama and his allies have taken the politics of division to new levels this election cycle. what we have seen in recent months is the president's willingness to play ggiarize th worst attributes of democratic candidates in the past like john kerry. like al gore barack obama is willing to look into the camera and distort any and all facts to woifrn voters. we are going to demonstrate how the 2012 obama play book is nothing short of the ultimate highlight real of the desperate methods long utilized by democrats in the past from class warfare to the race card we are going to cover it all. we are going to begin with the less most offensive scare tactics aimed at frightening you to support president obama. >>> you don't have any fresh ideas you use scare tactics to get voters. if you don't have a platform you paint one to run from. >> in his own words reads like a prophetic description of his 2012 el leksz campaign. >> if you reject the notion that our government

, mitt romney shut be scare the because a reliable barometer just turned bad for him. stocks closing out the trading month up and the latest quarter up a lot more. the dow, despite today's soft performance, surging 2 percent this month, almost double that in the last three months. stronger quarterly gains for the s&p 500 and nasdaq which means in an election year, good for the incumbent almost every election year. 39 days out, does that mean that the president is in? our market watcher says no, not when you factor the recent state of bad economic numbers. or the scores of major u.s. companies throwing workers out. larry, which is the more dominant theme? >>guest: just to illustrate that point, look no further than a country like greece on the verge of a depression, 25 percent unemployment, civil unrest, yet their stock market is up almost as much as our stock market. it shows you how disconnected main street has become from wall street in this committee. the reason for that is because of unprecedented central bank easing. that is what we are seeing. that is playing out in storms arou

republicans are doing, what specifically governor romney is doing, and why there is such a -- it is a grievance lack of coordination of interest in the issue amongst governor romney, john boehner, mitch mcconnell, and the other leaders in the republican party including, of course, rnc chairman, reince. >> we need a united front. the administration lied because they didn't follow the narrative that bin laden's dead and gm is alive. bin laden is dead, great thing, but al-qaeda is alive and well and its affiliates killing u.s. ambassador and the three americans. where is the outrage, the legitimate outrage on the part of the republicans to come out to get to the baht dome of this? i think the story is going to have legs because it gets worse every day, and we should be dodging kerry now at every move saying what are you doing as a member of the senate in order to get to the bottom of this? you signed a letter. now, mr. kerry, what are you doing about itings and the president has to be held to account at the debates. even though this is a domestic debate wednesday, romney should questio

a crucial toss upstate, president obama and governor romney both campaigning in the same battleground state today. we'll take you straight to ohio and talk about the strategies there, plus violent protests in two european capitols. latest fall outs from efforts to slash out of control government spending. what the street battles you're seeing across the pond there mean for our economic future. and finding justice for an american couple murdered in a tropical paradise. it's all happening now. and back to the big story of the day, iranian mahmoud ahmadinejad getting set to address the u.n. general assembly. hello, everyone, i'm arthe arthel nevel in for jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. mahmoud ahmadinejad delivering what is expected to be his final speech to the u.n. as president of the islamic republic. this caps a week of belligerent receipt particular. on tuesday he called for a new world order, free from what he calls american bullying. all this has governor mitt romney and the republican national committee hit the president hard on foreign policy, releasing a scathing at

romney is leading, leading, among ns and by a lot. our pollster is here to say this election is not over because independents are not moving over to the president as much as you think. break this down. what is it telling us? >>guest: well, from what we have seen in a number of polls particularly in the battle ground states where the parties are evenly balanced, the independent voters are leaning slightly toward mitt romney. we see it in florida where some polls have them up 44-40. another has romney up 49-46. in ohio he is up just barely with independents and in new hampshire he is up 4 points among independents. what we see is that there are two things that have to lap to win an election. first, you have to mobilize your supporters to get out and vote. second, you have to sway those independents much in the united states, even people who are independent tend to lean either the republican side or democratic side. back if 2008, the independents who leaned democrat were to borrow a phrase ready to go, voting if high numbers. more than republicans. in 2008, 63 percent of those folks in new

confuseds too why. first, because, you know, you've got governor romney who has a very solid education plan. you've got the president who i would argue of all of the things he done in the past four years, he's been most successful at education. and so, i think that the reason why potentially it's not being talked about is because both sides really have to-- are really thinking about the special interests within their party. with the democrates, the teachers' union. they clearly don't want a lot of change to happen. with the republican, with the 53 tatterrers they don't want-- tea partiers, they don't want federal intervention. the reality is we have a significant problem in this country. request with look at where we are with the unemployment numbers and also with the fact that most employers today will tell you that for the vacancies that they have, they cannot find qualified people to fill them. there's a huge diskeck there. and i think this country is going to continue to struggle until we fix the public education system. and make sure that we are preparing the children of

lead now. shows mr. obama with 51% support compared to 44% for mitt romney. the president is now in one of those states right now as he prepares for the first debate. two men will face off in denver on wednesday night. president obama holding a rally in las vegas last night speaking to 11,000 people there. and senator john kerry is playing the poll. and rob port man is acting as romney. >> both are excellent in their own way. you could argue that mitt has had a lot more recent experience. >> the president has a day job. the president has been president and not had the time to practice. all we hear about is how much mitt romney is practicing, practicing, trafficking. >> we'll see how it goes. debate is on wednesday. focus on domestic policy. romney is speaking about foreign matters. he says today that the president has shown weakness. >> the supreme court is set to tackle big cases today. the court will take on issues relating to same sex marriage and privacy issues. 6 of the 9 justices. it's the traditional mass held the day before the start of a new session. time now is 6:10. from

presidential nominee, governor mitt romney will speak with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu at some point today. president obama has taken heavy criticism not meeting with netanyahu while he was in the states to visit the general assembly. he drew a line making a case that iran is reaching nuclear point of no return but netanyahu laid out his vision for peace in the region. >> we want to see the three great religions that sprang fourth from our region, judaism, christianity and islam coexist in peace and mutual respect. yet the medieval forces of rad call islam who you saw storming american embassies of the middle east, they oppose this. they seek supremacy over all muslims. martha: david lee miller live at the united nations. david, what has been the reaction to that speech? >> reporter: martha one thing worth noting soon after prime minister netanyahu spoke mitt romney issued a statement essentially endorsing and echoing the remarks of the prime minister. romney joined the prime minister's call for a middle east progress of peace and he joined the call to prevent what he called th

come in and take a look and see if they like your play. >> here in cleveland, the romney campaign's preparing a play, trying to get lots of people to watch. >> only way to attract them to the theatre is if it looks good. >> tighten that out a little bit. >> just one presidential campaign, in the fall, in the general election, involves 400 people, advance people, setting up a stage. >> mike check. 1-2. >> a presidential campaign stop involves a lot of hard work. >> most are paid to do this. some are volunteers. >> does anybody have any questions? >> the planning starts days earlier. >> you send people driving around small towns in america, and asking people, hey, can we use your -- can we use your campus green? >> mel ritter is the director of candidate operations for mitt romney. >> let's get to work. >> campaign staffs try to make sure the right number of people show up. hillary clinton's presidential campaign was run by patty solis-doyle. >> you make calls to campaign supporters, make robocalls. >> they eventies advertise in the sky. >> ready for the message, then n mittromney.com

in favor of the president right now, mitt romney was asked about that in an interview to be aired on 60 minutes dru levenson has his reaction >>> mitt romney heads to the battleground state of colorado focused on the state he must win. national polls show the candidate in a dead heat with president obama but behind most of the swing states scott pelley asked romney in to 960 minutes >>> you are slipping in the polls at this moment republicans are concerned about the campaign >>> actually a where it tied in the polls we're within the margin of error it bounces around day to day, >>> number one issue remains the economy on face the nation former president bill clinton defended the obama administration's economic plan >>> more likely to produce broadbased prosperity than romney's plan people will see that unless they believe that somehow magically somebody can rest back to full employment in four years. >>> the democrats continue to go after run a clamming his plan lacks specifics >>> that not offer specifics out to lift up the country >>>. republican committee fired back at some republ

chances are of winning? >> oh, i think i am going to win. >> reporter: we spoke to governor romney as he pitched a plan for a different nation-- a government smaller than most americans have ever seen, reform of medicare and social security, a balanced budget and cuts in taxes. but how does he plan to get all of that accomplished? >> that is something congress and i will have to work out together. >> pelley: you are asking the american people to hire you as president of the united states. they would like to hear some specifics. >> kroft: president obama has had his foreign policy successes. he ended the war in iraq and the like of osama bin laden. but at home, his signature achievements remain controversial, and he is encumbered with a tempered recovery, chronically high unemployment and a hostile congress. you have tried things that haven't worked. the jobs plan, the jobs bill, you haven't been able to get it through congress. i mean, isn't that some of your responsibility? >> i take full responsibility for everything that we do, steve. >> i'm steve kroft. >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm

romney as he tries to steady his campaign. joining us for a debate of their own, democratic governor of massachusetts, devalue patrick and kelly welcome to both of you. >> thanks, david. >> a lot to get to. let's start with the issue of taxes. mitt romney's tax returns showing in 2011 he paid 14%. he didn't have a job. this was interest income. governor, should this end the debate or should there be more? >> i understand people's interest and curiosity about the tax returns. his dad said tax returns for presidential candidate should be produced way back many years and i think it produced 20 years worth of tax returns when he was considered vice president. the more important issue is what is it he plans to do with my taxes and yours and everybody els. he has a tax plan where he's talking $5 trillion in tax cut, adding to the deficit, no way to pay for it and no idea about what the impact is. >> the question of more returns and what they are holding, you don't think it's appropriate -- >> i think it's a fair question. the bigger question is what is it he plans to do with every